What have you been reading?

Sailing and reading go together.  Okay, well maybe not actually reading while at the helm and taking and jibing, but on those long days motoring or staying in your cabin on rainy days. While I've been catching up on my reading, so have my sister BPYC Book Babes.

We got together last night to share some of our favourite titles of the summer. Now, of course, my reading list is even longer!

Here is a sampling of some of the books we talked about last night…

 

Kaarina…..

In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson

The saga of an American father and daughter who in July 1933 suddenly found themselves, and the rest of their family, transported to the heart of Hitler's Berlin. The father was William E. Dodd, a mild-mannered history professor from Chicago who, much to his surprise and everyone else's, was chosen by Roosevelt to be America's first ambassador to Nazi Germany; Dodd's daughter, Martha, was 24 years old and came along for the adventure, and to escape a dead marriage. At first this new world seemed full of energy and goodwill, nothing like what newspapers back home had portrayed. But slowly a pall of intrigue and terror fell over the family--until the cataclysmic weekend that changed them all forever.

 

Favourite reading chair this summer!

Diane

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.  Read Stephen King’s glowing review in the New York Times here

 

Lisa…

Unsinkable is Silken Laumann’s memoir

But there was a massive barrier in her path that she has never before spoken about, a hidden story much darker than the tale of her accident. Now, Silken bravely shines a spotlight on all the obstacles she has encountered—and overcome—in Unsinkable, a memoir that reveals not only new insights into her athletic success and triumph over physical adversity, but also the intense personal challenges of her past and the fierce determination she applies to living a bold, loving and successful life today.

Time after time, this courageous champion has proven to be unsinkable. Silken’s extraordinary story offers us an intimate look at the complicated woman behind the Olympic hero, showing how perseverance and optimism can allow anyone to embrace the incredible opportunities that often go hand in hand with adversity.

Maureen…

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

Marriage can be a real killer.    One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Chicago Tribune proclaimed that her work “draws you in and keeps you reading with the force of a pure but nasty addiction.” Gone Girl’s toxic mix of sharp-edged wit and deliciously chilling prose creates a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn.    On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

Ann M.
The Frozen Thames, by Helen Humphries

In its long history, the river Thames has frozen solid forty times. These are the stories of that frozen river.
So begins this breathtaking and original work, which contains forty vignettes based on events that actually took place each time the historic Thames froze solid. Spanning more than seven centuries—from 1142 to 1895—and illustrated with stunning full-color period art, The Frozen Thames is an achingly beautiful feat of the imagination…a work of fiction that transports us back through history to cast us as intimate observers of unforgettable moments in time.

Whether we’re viewing the magnificent spectacle of King Henry VIII riding across the ice highway (while plotting to rid himself of his second wife) or participating in a joyous Frost Fair on the ice, joining lovers meeting on the frozen river during the plague years or coming upon the sight of a massive ship frozen into the Thames…these unforgettable stories are a triumph of the imagination as well as a moving meditation on love, loss, and the transformative powers of nature.

Annika…
Cane River, by Lalita Tademy
The "New York Times" bestseller and Oprah's Book Club Pick.
Lalita Tademy is a former vice-president of Sun Microsystems who left the corporate world to immerse herself in tracing her family's history and writing her first historical novel, CANE RIVER. Cane River is based on the lives of four generations of colored Creole slave women in Louisiana, women from whom she descended. Oprah Winfrey selected Cane River as her summer book group pick in 2001.


Wendy…
Harvest, by Tess Gerritsen

Boston’s Bayside Hospital is a long way from Dr. Abby DiMatteo’s humble roots, and she’s elated when their elite cardiac transplant team taps her as a potential recruit. But an anguished, life-and-death decision soon jeopardizes her entire career. She and chief resident Vivian Chao boldly direct a crash victim’s harvested heart to a dying seventeen-year-old boy-instead of the wealthy forty-six-year-old woman to whom the hospital had cross-matched it. The repercussions cost Dr. Chao her job, and leave Abby shaken.

Then a new heart suddenly appears, the woman’s transplant is completed, and Abby makes a terrible discovery. The donor records have been falsified-the new heart has not come through the proper channels. Defying Bayside Hospital’s demands for silence, Abby and Vivian plunge into an investigation that reveals a lethal unthinkable conspiracy. Every move Abby makes spawns a vicious backlash…and on a ship anchored in the waters of Boston Harbor, a final, grisly discovery lies waiting.

Joan…
Unthink, by Eric Wahl

In the tradition of A Whole New Mind and First, Break All the Rules, graffiti artist and corporate thought leader, Erik Wahl explores the power of creativity to achieve superior performance.

Somehow we’ve come to believe that creativity is reserved for the chosen few, the poets, the painters… the writers.

The truth is creativity is in all of us. It is about re-discovering the keys to unlock your fullest potential. UNthink is a book that pushes us beyond our traditional thought patterns. UNTHINK is a book to inspire everyone to rediscover that we are capable of so much more than we have pre-conditioned for. Because creativity is not in one special place – and it is not in one special person…

Creativity is everywhere and in everyone who has the courage to unleash their creative genius. 

Laura…

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.